Accurately determining the amount of fuel contained within the fuel tank may assist driver when operating a vehicle, allowing a driver to determine when and where the vehicle should be refueled before all of the fuel resources within the vehicle are exhausted. However, due to variable road conditions, such as uneven or bumpy roads, aftermarket modifications (e.g. adjustments in the vehicle's suspension and tire size), etc., fuel measurements may be inaccurate.
Fuel level sensors, such as floating sensors, have been used to determine the amount of fuel contained with a fuel tank. In U.S. Pat. No. 5,072,615 an inclinometer is used in conjunction with a fuel level sensor to determine the amount of fuel contained within the fuel tank. However, it may be difficult to determine the amount of fuel contained within the fuel tank when the time rate of change of the vehicle's inclination is rapidly changing. Therefore, when the vehicle is traveling along an uneven road surface, the displaced fuel within the fuel tank may adversely affect fuel quantity measurements, leading to inaccurate measurements. Consequently a driver may not be able rely on the fuel indicator, during various operating conditions. Additionally, vehicle owners may make aftermarket modifications to their vehicle, such as tire size alteration, suspension modifications, etc., leading to additional inaccuracies in the measurement of the fuel quantity.
A method for operating a vehicle including an internal combustion engine is provided. The method includes during a first a rate of change of an inclination of the vehicle, adjusting a fuel level indication based on the inclination and a level of fuel within the fuel tank; and during a second rate of change of the inclination different from the first rate of change, adjusting the fuel level indication based on actual fuel consumption of the engine.
In this way, it is possible to provide an accurate fuel level indication based on the inclination when the inclination is not changing too quickly. However, when inclination is changing quickly and may give degraded level readings, it is still possible to provide an accurate fuel level by transiently estimating fuel usage and using, for example, a previous fuel level reading from when the inclination was not changing too quickly.
In another example, a vehicle is provided, comprising: an internal combustion engine; a fuel delivery system coupled to the internal combustion engine, the fuel delivery system including a fuel tank having an in-tank fuel level sensor; a fuel indicator; two or more vehicle inclination sensors, the vehicle inclination sensors configured to determine an inclination between a bias plane and a reference plane and a direction of the inclination; and a control system including memory executable via a processor to operate the fuel indicator in an incline mode where the fuel indicator is adjusted based on the inclination, the direction of the inclination, and a level of fuel within the fuel tank, and operate the fuel indicator in a fuel consumption mode in which the fuel indicator is adjusted based on a current rate of fuel consumption of the vehicle.
In this way, different modes can be used to generate a fuel level indicator to the operator and thereby provide accurate readings under a variety of conditions.
It should be understood that the background and summary above is provided to introduce in simplified form a selection of concepts that are further described in the detailed description. It is not meant to identify key or essential features of the claimed subject matter, the scope of which is defined uniquely by the claims that follow the detailed description. Furthermore, the claimed subject matter is not limited to implementations that solve any disadvantages noted above or in any part of this disclosure.